Public Opinion on Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy has always been one of the most divisive sources of energy; with support depending on the country, how well informed the public are, and the events occurring around the world at the time. There are a number of factors that influence the public such as nuclear waste, security, cost of energy, reliance, safety, the media, climate change and many more.

Chernobyl

There isn’t much data on public opinion prior to the Chernobyl disaster; but in a poll conducted by Harris in the US in 1975, 63% supported building more nuclear power plants (Rosa et al., 1994). This dropped however, to 44% in 1979 after the Three Mile Island accident, and further still to 34% after Chernobyl in 1986 (Rosa et al., 1994). However, the American public recognised nuclear energy as a potential large scale energy source, as in a poll by Cambridge during the late 1980’s; 67%-78% said that nuclear energy was a good or realistic choice for the future (Rosa et al., 1994). In West Germany, one of the closest Western nations to the Chernobyl disaster, polls suggested around 15% supported a withdrawal from nuclear power prior to the disaster; after the disaster, this rose to 37% the following year, and 65% the year after that (Peters et al., 1990). It is noted however, that even after the Chernobyl disaster, parties who supported withdrawing from nuclear power (along with public opinion) didn’t have much, if any, increase in support in Germany’s parliamentary elections the following year, suggesting that although there was a concern, nuclear energy is not something at the forefront of the public minds.

(Rosa et al., 1994)

Fukushima

After the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the German parliament chose to phase out nuclear power (Dorothee et al., 2016). This was in direct contrast to a decision made 6 months earlier to extend the nuclear power plant run-time. This would mean that Fukushima had a direct effect on the decision of the German parliament; but perhaps this was also influenced by the medias reporting? Prior to the Fukushima disaster, Nuclear power was a dividing issue in Germany, with 43% in support and 37% opposed. A few days after the accident, global support fell from 57% to 49% which is to be suspected (Dorothee et al., 2016). News in Germany in the following year also changed dramatically; with the economical (-21%) and energy aspects (-11%) of nuclear energy seeing much less coverage, and on the other side, a large increase in the coverage of the risks of nuclear (+23%) and the demonstrations (+12%) against (Dorothee et al., 2016).

Level of  different themes represented in the news (Dorothee et al., 2016)

Present

Global public opinion on Nuclear Issues (Mycle Schneider 2009)

In today’s time, opinion is very much split depending on the country in question, with a Globescan poll of 18 countries in 2005 suggesting 34% of respondents are not in favour of building new nuclear plants, but prefer to just keep the old plants, 28% want to build new nuclear plants, and 25% want to close down all plants as soon as possible (OECD 2010). Support for closing all nuclear power plants is highest in countries which don’t have any, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia (OECD 2010). Support in the EU is also slightly lower than the global average, with issues such as safety, security and reliance being a concern on the continent.
Support is also dependent on the level of knowledge around the subject. When respondents were informed about the positive impacts of climate change, support for nuclear expansion increased on average by 10% (OECD 2010). This is mirrored in the US, with 60% either slightly opposing or slightly in favour of nuclear energy; when they feel very well informed, 54% are strongly in favour with another 22% somewhat in favour (Bisconti Research 2016). Even a moderate amount of knowledge on the subject, leads to a 77% in favour for nuclear energy.

(Bisconti Research 2016)

There is even a split in views between the genders, with woman in a range of countries such as the US, UK, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Japan and more, being less supportive than men towards nuclear energy since the 1990’s, roughly 39% support for men, compared to 27% for woman (Sundström et al., 2016). This is seen throughout the range of issues with nuclear, with woman being less accepting of nuclear power in general, more opposed to constructing new plants and more concerned about the produced waste (Sundström et al., 2016). The 'health and safety concerns' argument is most commonly used to explain this difference,  with woman believed to have heightened concern for the health and safety of others, and greater sensitivity to the associated risks of technologies such as nuclear, which has potential for a catastrophic accident. (Sundström et al., 2016)

In conclusion, support for nuclear energy has fluctuated greatly over the years, in response to the disasters and development in the world. Prices of fuel, level of education and even gender can have an effect on support towards nuclear energy. What can be seen though is that when the advantages are explained to people, especially involving climate change, the public are much more willing to get behind the idea of nuclear energy; it just depends if they think those benefits outweigh the risks.